Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-03-13
READERS WRITE.
VARIOUS TOPICS OF INTEREST DIS.
CUssRD BY TIE PUBLIC.
Labor Unions and the Laws Of Trade
Tobseco-Tax Evils-"M. D.. on
Perfect Health.
10 tie Eaitor Of me Disnntch

Any one who will take the trouble 10
read the history of the laws of force
resorted 10 by those ignorant Of the
laws OF trade that govern all things,
such as price Of labor, supplies, de-
mand-in n word, human Transactions
during the early years of the French
revolution will become satisfied that
the price Of labor and its products can
not be governed by legislation. That
although legislation may temporarily
increase or decrease the price OF labor,
the one or the other will be hut APP
parent, and not real, for the reason that
the price of everything is governed by
the cost Of production, and the guam
tity Of the thing produced as compared
TO the demand, and therefore that
in the same ratio that tlib price
OF labor may be raised by force,
whether that force be law
or strike, so will the price of the pro-
duct of labor be increased, and therefore
nothing will be gained. If you should
increase the cost Of getting wheat to
the seaboard 20 per cent. it would not
tc sold in the foreign markets, and
hence the demand forit, for the foreign
market would cease and it would be
left where it was produced without a
market. Legislation cannot control in
America the price of any agricultural
product, for that is governed by the
worlds demand. IF wheat can I've
proftably produced at eighty cents q
buthel when labor is seventy-five
cents a day it is manifest that if
labor Is raised to 81 a day then
the producers of wheat cannot sell it
for less than $1.05, and il he cannotge
that he will abandon the cultivation OF
wheat. kgain, if in consequence of the
incl ease in the price of labor wheat can
not be put on the market from here as
cheapas in foreign countries, the export
Of wheat will stop, and so would every
thing, and We would have ruin and
bankruptcy. This example is quite
sufficient to illustrate the all-powerful
laws of trade. Therefore, wisdom sug-
gests that the legislator would be wise
not TO enter into the bOundless field OF
regulating prices by law, for it cannot
DO any possible good, and if pressed
beyond very narrow point will pro-
duce ruin and bankruptcy, the laborer
being the chief sufferer America is a
part of the world, and cannot by legis
lation control the price of the worlds
labor and its products, or those laws OF
trade that govern with the omnipotence
Of Deity itself.
LABOR PAYS ALL TAXES.
There is another and all-potent law
in political economy that seems to have
been forgotten, and yet overrides all
legislation AID all devices, however cum
ninply cOntriyed, and that is this: The
produccrs pay al tGCcs il Mc End,
and therefore when the taxes are low
the price of labor will he relatively
high, and when the taxes are high the
pricc Of labor Will be low; therefore
it is that true craftsmanship. if it would
benefit the producer, will address itself
TO The decrease of the taxes as a means
of benefting the producer. If you in
crease the taxes of the landowner the
laws of necessity will force him to re-
duce the pay of his labor and to in
crease his rents. If man owns city
property that rents for $500 d
wear, when the tax on it is $50 year,
and you increase the tax TO 500, ne
will raise the price of his rent $50, and
the renter, if a merchant, will increase
the price of bis goods or decrease the
pay OF his clerks, and SO labor or the
consumer pays the increase in the rent
or the taxes in the end and so labor
paws all taxes. TO illustrate a little
further: Our tobacco tax IS say
FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR.
There are in America about II, 900, 900
producers. Therefore, each laborer
uays tobacco-tax, S4.54 +; tax on sugar,
$50. coo, OO0-of which each laborer
paws s4.54; tax on intoxicating drink,
SEQ. eco. 0OC-of which each laborer
paws S5.B5. Here, then, is a tax paid
by the people on the necessaries of life
of SlG6, OG0, eco, of which each laborer
pays $3.50 yearly.
The present tax for pensions is about
So. GOO, coo, or about 81 for each labor
erin all, $23, 900 a head yearly; and
now il ia proposed to enact another
pension law that will add some S175,-
0OO, OOO yearly to this enormous tax
or say sic a head TO every laboring-
man-in all $50 a head yearly, or S7j
week. If you could get rid of these
taxes it would be just the same thing as
adding S99 year to the wages OF every
nottingham.
Now, the working people suffering
from this heavy burden resort to strikes,
force, &c, and yet the only relief be-
fore them is to reduce these and other
taxes, for every dollar taken from the
amount OF the taxes is a dollar saved 70
the laborer.
Pensions ought to be paid those
who were disabled in the war of the re-
public, and who are needy, but to pay
those who were not disabled, or who
arc not in need, is n gross wrong to the
toiling million, and it is a gross wrong
to the laboring millions TO be building
costly war-vessels any further than for
defensive purposes.
Let me ask, Is q standing army,
formerly so abhorrent to the America1
people, any more dangerous to liberty
than q
STANDING NAVY?
We should have q standing army sui
ficieut for defensive purposes, and sc
with a standing navy. Anything fur
Their than this will incite aggressive
wars and foreign conquests. We wanl
Cuba and st. Domingo. They would
come themselves if we were wise enough
TO encourage them a little. Give us O
great navy, and we will pick a quarrel
with Spain and take Cuba, or with
Great Britain and take Canada, which
would be a curse to us. Let us go @
little slow and see if we cant get Cuba
without war chat will cost 5000, 600, 600
Let us pay some little attention to the
reduction of national taxes, and see Il
we can't save S25 to $50 year to each
laboring man in America, and thus put
stop TO storm whose mutterlngs are
and ought to be all around us.
JOIN S. SWAMI.
CRarlestouR, W. Va, March 6, 1887
The Evils OF the TobaccO-Tax.
BEDFORD COUNTY, VA,
February %, 1887. {
nv, H. Iy;jor If the DisD1fch.